Balancing Beadlock Wheels | 4WDTalk - Overlanding and offroad Forum
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Balancing Beadlock Wheels

RedNeck

RedNeck

Active member
I finally broke down and picked up a set of headlock wheels. Would I need to balance the rims first before I put the tires on? Just thinking there are additional things that could be out of wack on the rims alone that might make balancing these a PITA, or am I overthinking this?
 
All of your modern machines can balance a bare rim. If its a name brand the rim will be pretty good but needs to be complexly assembled. Pay very close attention to the ring bolt torque and torquing sequence. I've run methods and Walker Evans rim's. Both had a torque of ~12 pounds on the rings. Make sure you know what the spec is for yours's. It could be diffrent from mine. Do not over torque them.

Be aware, most techs don't know you can balance bare rims. Most are not shown this feature or have never used it. The other issue is, most shop's wont touch beadlocks. They don't understand them, the tech's will use an impact on the ring bolts and they dont want the liability.

The tech normally gets paid about $10 (30 mins time) to mount and balance tires. A good tech can do this pretty quick. Properly torquing 25-30 ring bolts in stages per rim, takes me about 20 mins each. Figure about two hours to do a set of 5 with balancing and the shop only pays me for 30 mins time. Also tires are the entry level area. So you get the unskilled kid.

This is the challenge you have. Find a shop that actually knows how to deal with them and dosent just say they know how. Beside that, if their new rims, I wouldnt worry about it unless their damaged.
 
Now I might be wrong but most shops are not going to touch beadlocks or split wheels for that matter because they aren't DOT approved.
 
True.
The better performance off road shops will normally deal with them but you really need to make sure they know how to.
 
Hmmm, had no idea! Typically speaking, how much heavier are beadlock wheels?
 
It depends on the wheel. Bead locks can be heavier or lighter. Most are slightly heavier. This is normally due to the extra strength you need for racing.

My Method bead locks (35#) were heavier then my current Fuel fake bead locks (22#). Both are forged rims. My Walker Evens (cast rim) were stupid heavy (50#). Their the heaviest beadlock on the market ( as far as I know) and ridiculously strong .

Raceline forged are 35# and $850. Their cast is 44# and $450.

Most steel beadlocks run in the 35#-40# range and run around $300 . Personally, I have never seen a steel rim hold up to abuse and will never run them.

The 22# Fuel rim's I currently run will never be abused. If I was going to beat on it like my older vehicles, it would defiantly have real beadlocks.

When you look at rims, look at forged vs cast. Cast will normally be heavier. Forged can be lighter but the lighter you go, the more money they cost. Off road, our tires are heavy as it is, unless you tune your suspension and race, You most likely will never notice the difference.
 
Anything where the tire is low and can spin off the rim. They were mandated in drag racing over a certain speed. Rock crawl, mud, sand, slick rock.
Or if you get them cheap enough, because they look cool.
At one time I had a connection with Method. If I still did I would be running them now. For me, it would have been cheaper then the fake ones I currently have.
 
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